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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Ev lives the Lower Mainland of Beautiful British Columbia, Canada where she has been training dogs since 1969. She is experienced in many methods including clicker and motivational training. Ev is an original Superdog Performance Team member and her own dogs have travelled and performed with the Canadian SuperDogs since 1984. She has also served as an A.A.C. judge ans is an original Member/Trainer with the Dogwood Pacesetters Agility Club.
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[Edit]
3/15/2007
Mastiff puppy, is his barking dominant or fearful? I have 8 mastiffs, all fit into slots of dominant and so on down the pecking order. All eat together and we have only the occasional minor disagreement. I have always known how to deal with each dog, but I have a 4 month old make who is sending cross signals , when I take him out and he sees strange dogs, he barks nonstop, stands stiff legged and alert, chest extended, hackles up, head and tail raised. If the other dog approaches him, he turns tail and runs away; stopping to turn and bark. I have not been able to stop his barking.
I do not want him to be dog aggressive because in a few months we will be starting into the show season and in a few weeks starting handling classes. My question is, is he dominant or will he be fearful? I am afraid as he matures he will think the best offence is a good defense. If he is fearful I do not want to use a stiff correction, if he is dominant the correction will be more severe. I have started clicker training and he is very responsive but if there is a strange dog around the clicker or treats don't work. Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this? He is only 4 months at this time. At home with our pack he is laid back, mellow, and does not show dominance or submission. He sits back and watches a lot of what is going on and never seems to get into any ones bad books and is never aggressive with the other pups. (smmastiff, Washington )
Being 4 months, it is a difficult time for most puppies just getting out into the world and even more difficult to evaluate or suggest a course of action for when I cannot visually see the dog and the reactions you speak of.
Going by your email, it sounds as though the pup is more 'fearful' but wants to stand his ground as best he can. I disagree that a 'fearful' behaviour requires a less 'stiff correction', although I do not recommend that the dog be punished.
I use a Squirt Bottle for so many things and you may find that it would help is this situ
ation. There also has to be a 'trust bond' established between the two of you as well. He needs to know that you will call upon him if the situation calls for it but otherwise to "Be Nice & Quiet."
Some of what he may be going through as well, would be a lack of socializing. He may need to get out and around strange people to better identify himself. Try going to the park with a friend and him 'on-leash' and then hand the leash over to your friend, tell him "Stay." and leave your friend with some treats ... now go hide behind a tree or go to the washroom or something - just a few minutes.
Return with lots of Praise and more treats.
Some of what he is doing almost sounds like he is trying to be protective of you so having others walk him (in your presence) and at least holding the leash and making him walk nice, should help with that.
The Squirt Bottle will enforce the "Quiet." and "Be Nice!" commands so you should be able to tone his barking down to at least a rumble if not eliminate it completely.
Fearful is hard to deal with because you walk a fine line with how much you can 'push' them into a situation they feel uncomfortable with. Pushing too much or too far can create a snapper/biter and not pushing enough can condone the fearful behaviour.
Hackles are a good sign of aggression but tucking, running, hiding or jumping back is a good sign of fear. The two combined usually indicates the dog is confused and 'socializing' in different situations and with different people should pull the dog one way or the other so you can better understand 'what' you are dealing with.
By 6-9 months, and if you try the bottle and the different people, etc., then you should see more of either the fear or the aggression and then you can deal with that accordingly.
These are just suggestions based on your email alone. It is by no means the 'answer' to your problem as I can not suggest an answer properly not ever having seen or handled the dog myself.
Good Luck.
Canine Caretaker Training/Consulting
http://www.k9care.ca
"United We Stand."
http://www.standunited.ca
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